Fitbit Charge HR Wireless Heart Rate & Activity Wristband (Large)

My weight has been a bit of a concern of late, but I've never been able to work out where it was accumulating from as I would not consider myself to be someone who overeats. The cupboards are devoid of the kind of sugar and fat ladened treats that most seem to have these days, and I'm a non-drinker as well. The only thing that I could see that was not in my favour was my relatively inactive desk-bound job, but I thought I had taken that into account. I started looking into some sort of monitor as a means of trying to work out what was going on and hit upon this one. There are others around which have the heart rate monitor (which I figured would make the data collected more accurate) but these rely upon a separate chest sensor rather than taking the pulse which is what this device does. I have the one in the rather fetching plum colour as black does not really suit me. The display is a purple LED matrix which shows the time, steps, calories burned, heart rate and flights of stairs statistics in sequence when the button on the side is pressed. It can also be configured to show this information when it is tapped, but I found that the display was activating when I was not requesting it, so I disabled this option. The thing that caused me a lot of problems initially was the setup. It does not appear to be compatible with my tablet as it is Android 4.2 which apparently does not have the Bluetooth 4.0 LE support built into it which meant that I could not set it up that way. I had to borrow a Windows 10 setup to get the device configured which involves downloading the updated firmware and linking it to ones online account on the Fitbit website. Once that was done, I have found that the "galileo" program for Linux is quite capable of syncing the device to the website and uploading the monitoring data as well as downloading any setting changes from the site. The website itself is fairly basic providing charts of your activity and sleep patterns. Periods of high activity are picked up and can be looked at in detail so that you can see a chart of your heart rate and calorie usage. It also has the facility to keep track of your food intake and weight, although I have not yet used the food part of the functionality. All of this performs its job quite well, although you can download the data in Excel format if there is something you need to do with the data which is not catered for on the site. I can get the website to work OK with my tablet, but it still will not upload the data from the monitor. There also seems to be a problem using it with the sleep chart as Adobe Flash is required for this to operate and it does not appear to be picking up the built-in Flash support in Chrome for some reason. It all works fine from my desktop system which is OK for me as I do not need the information when I am on the move. The only real complaint I have is that the battery life is somewhat lacking. It is advertised as being able to go "up to 5 days" before it needs charging, but in practice this seems to be 2-3 days. There are a good few people complaining about this as it appears to have been down to a recent firmware update. That said, it is not too much of an inconvenience as I tend to pick moments when I am not doing much to recharge it since the software seems to calculate an idle calories used figure and use this to fill in where there is no data available. All told, it is doing the job that I wanted it for. I've managed to identify the things which I think had caused the weight increase and thanks to a couple of dietary changes along with the continued monitoring, my weight is starting to slowly fall as I can now make sure that what I consume is less than I burn. It also turns out that I am a little more active than I thought I was as well.

Having a lot of trouble synching it with my windows phone.Sent first one back because itlost time and wouldn't record sleep patterns.Really you need M&S a member ofstaff trained in fitbit use to help.

Easy to use once it is synchronised. Despite using the gym regularly I was surprised how little walking I did. The Fitbit encourages me to walk more and keep tabs on how much water I've drunk. I've already recommended it to friends!

The product was exactly as described. Substantial wrist band and easy to follow set-up instructions. Warning - wearing becomes addictive!!!

Great bit of kit especially the sleep monitor as I hardly sleep at all, this just quantifies the fact and something to show the GP! Only downside is I would love a gentle reminder to get up and move, I had a very cheap version £14.99, this had the facility and it was a huge benefit, you really don't realise how long you have been on your bum! You never know they may add it as a upgrade, as I feel I am not alone on this point. But so happy with my purchase so far.

I already have one of these but my son borrows it. I decided to buy him his own. Great incentive to do that bit more each day. Fantastic value as purchased during Black Friday deals.

Very easy to set up. Good motivation to keep up the excercise

As a complete novice in the use of sports wrist bands I researched various technical review web sites to see what was recommended for recording my daily activities, calorie burn and heart rate monitoring etc. The FITBIT CHARGE HR, appeared to be the overwhelming favourite. At the time of purchase M&S were offering a substantiation discount during the 'Black Friday Week'. Which made a good buy even better. The device arrives in rather expensive but unnecessary packaging. Fitbit would have done much better by including even some basic setup and user guide details which are absolutely devoid. However by 'Googling' for FitBit Charge HR operating / user guide instructions I was soon able to start the battery charge and setup procedures. Then download the FitBit App to my Android smart phone, obviously there is an iOS app for Apple devices. I was away in no time using the excellent software, which incidentally does have some basic user guide instructions, which you are not told about in the packaging. The band (large size for adults) is an easy comfortable fit and unobtrusive to wear. It synch's easily with my mobile phone / tablet app which is quite a pleasure and intriguing to use. For my simple needs, not full sports application, just keeping an eye on my daily physical activities, this is a brilliant device. The purchasing and delivery through M&S was excellent. Well ahead of the predicted date.

good all rounder but requires more work on the apps.

I have only had the Fitbit HR for a few days, but it certainly encourages you to " up your game " especially if you connect with friends via the Fitbit app. Not only does it do you good, it looks good on, it's sleek and stylish, even on a small wrist, it's also more comfortable to wear than I was expecting. It's very easy to use, there's only one button on the side which you push to scroll through the various read out's. It also makes a surprisingly handy watch, normally the screen is blank, but if you raise your arm to look at it, the time function comes on automatically, it also doubles as an alarm, which you can set via the app, it sends a vibration to your arm, which is very effective and discrete .one warning though, you will become inexplicably obsessed with how many steps you've completed !.

Early days but this is fun to wear and monitor daily activity. Easy to use. Only downside is that I can't wear this and a watch but that's a minor point.

This had a faulty display and was refunded. Spent an hour talking with Fitbit support who confirmed it was a known issue with Charge HR. A quick look over on Fitbit forums confirmed this. I would not recommend you buy a Charge HR model. Basic Fitbit seems ok.

I must congratulate M&S for selling the Fitbit Charge HR Wireless Heart Rate & Activity Wristband during their Black Friday sale. It is a fantastic product and sold at a brilliant price. Well done M&S - 10/10

Very pleased with my purchase, it is a Christmas present for my son so not used yet, my son requested this item for Christmas therefore I'm sure he's going to love it.